Raber Wolf Pack Box Set

by Ryan Michele

  My mind wants to race with thoughts, but whenever Lily looks into my eyes, serenity and tranquility flow through me. I know this isn’t right, but why would I fight this peacefulness, especially after being attacked by wolves.

  I lie back and wait for Lily to clean what feels like thousands of wounds. Shouldn’t I get a shot or something for rabies or whatever else wolves might carry? And antibiotics to fight off any infection? Lily wraps my legs and arms, taping patches all over my torso and breasts.

  “I really think I should go to the hospital so they can give me medicine. I appreciate your help, but I need antibiotics, among other things.”

  “Nothing you get at a hospital will help you at this point, sweetie.” My heart picks up super-fast as she walks over to a dresser in the corner of the room, pulling out sweatpants and a t-shirt then handing them to me. They look two, maybe three sizes too large for me. “Put these on and then we’ll talk. I need to go out and talk to my alpha and beta. Then I’ll be back.”

  Wait. “Alpha and beta? Who are they and how many people are here?” I grip the clothes to my body, sitting up with an agonizing ache but wanting to cover myself up so I fight through it.

  “All of your questions will be answered soon. Please, put the clothes on and I’ll be right back.” With speed I’ve never seen, she’s out of the room, closing the door firmly behind her. Frantically, I put on the extra, extra large pants and shirt, groaning in pain with each movement, but desperately wanting to be covered. Along with the ache, my body feels like it’s on fire everywhere, like a thousand fire ants decided I was their home and are traipsing all over my flesh. What is wrong with me? Something is seriously wrong. I need to get out of here and to a doctor.

  I search the room and see no phone, then look around, trying to remember what happened to my cell after I left the bar.

  Nowhere. Shit. My mind spins as the questions filter through, one after another, and panic continues to grow. I need to get control of this situation that seems to be spiraling into a black abyss. I need to focus. I can do this.

  Surely Lily will let me use the phone, she seems genuine. I’ll ask her as soon as she comes back. I sit on the bed and gather myself. I got away from the wolves alive; I can get away from here, too. Wait! The crystal. I search for my purse, remembering that I’d shoved the crystal and my phone inside, but it is nowhere to be found.

  Voices on the other side of the door are muffled to the point that I can’t make out anything being said. My hearing is usually spot on, but for some reason it’s difficult to understand them. Why don’t I feel the extreme panic and fear that I know I should feel? I’m not crying or screaming. Or hell, even racing to the door to see if I can escape. Nothing. If anything, I’m the calmest I’ve been in a really long time; in pain, but calm.

  The door creaks open and Lily walks in, looking radiant. She sits on the bed and gestures to the space next to her. I move to her without question, another thing that confuses me, but I do it. It’s like she has this pull on me, reassuring me without words.

  “I know you have lots of questions, but please let me talk before them. I’ll then answer anything you want. My alpha and beta would like me to talk with you. They know that you’re frightened and do not want to add to any of your discomfort.”

  That’s sweet, but too little too late. “Can I use the phone? And do you know where my purse is?”

  She pats my leg like one would do to placate a child. “Soon.” A fresh wave of calm fills the room and I suck it in like a starving woman. I really like this feeling. She makes all of the bad disappear. Lily should bottle this shit up; she could make millions. “And, no, I don’t, but I will ask Max if he’s seen it. Let’s start easy. First, what is your name?”

  “Kenly.”

  “Beautiful name.” I warm even further to her. “Tonight, you were hunted by four wolves.” Tell me something I don’t know. “Sweetie, you were hunted.” She emphasizes the last word and realization hits. I was hunted like an animal and probably supposed to be dead. The fear stays below the surface when it should be raging through my body. Lily is controlling it. She has to be. “Those were not wild wolves that you’d find out in nature or at a zoo. Those wolves turn into humans.” I knew this and that they existed, but I have never come in contact with them. Never had a reason to. They do their thing while we humans do ours. No harm, no foul. And after this encounter, I don’t think I ever want to be around them again. Hunted? “This is serious. You need to listen and pay close attention. Have you ever had special things happen to you?”

  Her question takes me off guard. “Special? Like winning an award or something?”

  “No, Kenly. Like hearing things from far away or sensing something strange or odd?” The seriousness of her tone confuses me. “I can feel the wheels turning in your head. Please answer the question.”

  I breathe out deep. Have I ever sensed something? Well, there was tonight when my gut told me to stay home and all of this shit happened. Or when I made a detour once and later found out there was a five-car pileup on the road I should’ve been driving on. Or the time I felt the need to take the stairs at work only to later find out the elevator had broken down, caging the people inside with no air conditioning for hours on that blistering summer day. But all of that I’ve chalked up to a gut feeling and nothing more.

  “You have haven’t you?” Lily asks, again as patient as ever.

  “Just small things, like going to the grocery store on a Friday after work and then finding out that a man robbed the place and killed the clerk and some customers the same time on Saturday I normally go. But they’re just gut feelings. Everyone has those.” I shrug because it’s just coincidence.

  “Does this happen a lot?”

  I think back. “Not a lot, but they’ve come when I need them, I guess.”

  She nods her head. “What about hearing or sight?”

  That one’s easy. “Hearing is definitely great. I can hear the neighbors in my apartment having sex often, fighting, and their conversations but I try to block them out.” Last night. “I could hear the wolves’ paws tapping on the pavement as they chased me.”

  “Tell me about the attack.”

  A shiver rattles my bones at the thought. I really don’t want to talk about it, but I will. “My gut told me to go home and I didn’t listen. I went out to Buddies for a couple of drinks. I was tired and wanted to go home, but agreed. My car was down the block at my office building so I walked back toward it when I left. I had a weird feeling I was being watched, so I walked faster, looking all around, but didn’t hear or see anything. When I got to the parking garage, I heard footsteps. When I turned, I saw four huge men coming at me. I took off running.” I shake my head and tell her of the moments when I was getting bitten. Each word I speak comes out in a quiver. “I hit my head, hard, and saw a blur. The next thing I remember is waking up here.”

  “You do have very good instincts. You need to listen to them, always.” Her words come out in a warning, compelling me to heed them. “Do you feel calm around me?”

  “Yes, very much so. Why is that? Are you doing it?”

  She smiles. “You are very observant, too. Yes, I’m controlling your emotions. I don’t want you to get upset, which I know you will do when I explain everything. My beta knows this too. That is why I am here and not him.”

  “You’re doing what?” I screech, totally focusing on the controlling emotions thing. I knew she was doing something. At least I’m not as crazy as I thought. People can do that to one another? That’s like something on one of those SciFi shows on TV.

  “Controlling your emotions. Please listen,” she commands and so I do. “When our beta and enforcers brought you here, the minute I came into contact with you, I felt an electric charge. This means I’m pretty sure that all the bites you sustained are going to turn you into a wolf.”

  Turn me into a wolf? Yeah, right. I’d laugh sarcastically, but Lily’s pull on me is too great. I have entered some type of altern
ate universe. This shit just doesn’t happen. “I just need to go to the hospital and get some shots then I’ll be fine.” This lady is nutso nice, but nuts all the same. Aren’t wolves born this way? Can they really change a perfectly normal human?

  “Kenly, anything that you get from a hospital will not be strong enough. Our alpha has ordered a pack doctor to come and he should be here within the hour. He will check you out, but I have to tell you, turning into a wolf is a very painful experience for a human, and we need to get you prepared for it.”

  This woman is several bricks shy of a full load. Me…turn into a wolf? Yeah, right. “Just please give me a phone and I’ll get out of here. Then you can go back to whatever life this is you have going on.” And leave me out of it. I have a shit time believing that instead of two legs I will have four. That’s just not possible.

  “After you change, if you choose to go home, we will give you a phone and whatever else you need, but you have to stay here until you change.”

  She must really be controlling my emotions, because I should be freaking the fuck out right about now, yet here I am, just sitting here taking it all in like a dumbass. “I can’t stay here. I have work and parents. They will be worried about me.” Well, not my parents, but my co-workers will be.

  “We’ll take care of that,” Lily says calmly.

  “How?” How can she just brush this off?

  “You don’t need to worry, just know that our beta will be take care of everything.”

  She pauses and I jump in. “So, let me get this straight. I’m going to turn into a wolf, it’s going to hurt like a bitch, you and whoever is here are going to help me. You won’t let me call anyone until the change is over and then I can go back to my life. One problem with that. I don’t want anything to do with changing into a wolf,” I try to scream the last part, but am not allowed. I’m controlled, and this is starting to piss me off more. Am I actually believing what this woman said, that I’m going to turn into a wolf? I can’t believe I’m even entertaining this idea. It’s preposterous.

  Isn’t it?

  “We’re the Raber wolves. Our alpha is Xavier and he runs everything to do with our pack,” she says, avoiding my comments.

  The blood drains from my face and instant cold hits. Wolf pack? Did she just say wolf pack? “You…” I stammer. “You’re a wolf?” How did this not click earlier? I even heard her say the pack doctor and it didn’t register. Fear slices through my gut with a sharp knife. They aren’t going to hurt me, are they?

  “Yes, I am.”

  Holy shit. “Holy shit. I want to go home.” I rise, feeling a bit dizzy just as a slight calm floods me.

  “After you change.”

  “How do you know I will change?” I hope this…wolf is ready to answer a shit load of questions because I’ve got them. “There is no reason to think that I would become a wolf. How does that even happen? I’ve seen it in horror movies but never thought it was real.” Yes, I’m rambling. I know this and at the moment, I don’t give a shit!

  “The amount of bites you have. With only one or two, the chances of changing are slim because the wolves’ saliva really won’t penetrate your bloodstream. But with the severity of your bites, I have no doubt.” Lily is so damn put together and refined, making it ten times harder for her to be the nut I want to think she is. Could she be right? What the hell did those wolves do to me?

  “What happens during this change?” Information is the key. That’s what Grams always taught me. I need a phone so I can call her. She’ll know if this is really true or not. She always knows everything.

  “We don’t turn humans. We have strict rules on that, but as in the human world, not everyone follows those rules. I’ve seen it twice in my two hundred years and both times, it wasn’t pretty. First, we need to feed you. You need your strength and will burn a lot of calories in a short period of time. Your body will heat to the point of boiling then you’ll have cold shivers. Your libido will be out of control, but no worries there because there is one hot wolf that will help you out in that department. When you finally change over, your bones will break and crack. You will physically turn into a wolf.”

  “Holy shit,” I whisper. Fear tightens my gut then releases just as fast. She can’t be right. She just can’t. Seems the more I tell myself that, the more convinced I am that she is right. I don’t want to be a wolf.

  “It’s getting back to your human self that is key after your first change. The humans who have undergone the process had a difficult time changing back. I know this is scary and I’ll help you in any way I can. But you have to remember the purple light.”

  Huh? “Purple light?” This is all too much. Too damn much. My head spins with all this new information.

  “When you are a wolf, to get back to your human self you must follow the purple light and walk right into it. This will make the change happen. You cannot forget this, Kenly. It is the most important thing for you to remember.” I don’t believe this. This is just so off the wall and too much to even try to take in. Too strange in the movie-is-my-life way. Crazy. If she’s a wolf, I need to see it. Really see it.

  “Change into a wolf,” I demand. It’s the only way I’ll believe all the mumbo jumbo coming out of her lips. If she wants me to believe she isn’t a total loon, she needs to do this.

  Puzzlement crosses her features. “Are you sure you want me to?”

  Why, can’t do it? I want to challenge her, but refrain from using a five-year-old’s taunts. “Yep. If you want me to believe that I’m going to change, I want to see it.”

  Lily steps back to the far corner of the room and pulls her shirt over her head with all the confidence of a trained stripper, her stunning body filling me with a bit of self-doubt regarding my own. “What are you doing?” I ask on a gasp.

  She unhooks the clasp of her baby-pink bra and her full breasts spill out—or, perk up, I should say. What is she doing? This woman doesn’t know me for shit and she’s just stripping in front of me like she doesn’t have a care in the world. She unbuttons her jeans, pulling them off along with a small thong she had underneath.

  “I have to undress to show you,” she says calmly. “Are you sure you want this?” she asks again, like a parrot repeating her damn self.

  “Yes. Considering I can see your entire naked body and all.” It’s like a car accident. I want to look away from her beautiful form, but am powerless to do so. A magnet and I’m so attracted to it I can’t help but watch.

  “Don’t be scared. I won’t hurt you. I’ll stay over here and will not come up to you,” she warns, eyes connecting with mine, and a cool blast of calm flows through me.

  In seconds, a blur of action happens. Popping, cracking, and small grunts fill the air as Lily’s beautiful body transforms before my eyes. Her arms and legs grow long blonde hair. Her hands and feet turn into paws. Her ass turns into the rump of a wolf complete with a large tail, and her chest is now completely covered in fur. Her nose and mouth contort into a large snout and her beautiful face disappears. A blondish-brown wolf stares back at me, shaking her fur rapidly.

  I sit here stupefied. What in the fuck did I just see? I blink my eyes, just knowing this is all a dream, and willing myself to wake up so it will all be gone. But it doesn’t happen. I am still staring into the same eyes as before, as the wolf sits back on her hind legs. She doesn’t move from the spot, just as she promised. It’s one thing to turn around to men one moment and wolves the next. But to witness a woman change right before your eyes…

  “Lily?” I call out, why I have no clue. She obviously won’t be able to talk.

  The wolf nods her head like she can understand what I just said, but how is that possible? I rise from the bed, compelled to walk over to the large animal. In a few tentative steps, I stand right in front of the wolf and the fear that should be spiking to record levels doesn’t come. I reach out and touch Lily’s side, allowing my fingers to trail through her blonde fur. Shit. Fur. She does not move the entire time I
do this, but I can feel her slow, even breaths.

  Is this really happening? Her fur is very soft and this is all totally surreal. I move a few steps away from her. “Please, change back.” Right in front of me, the fur retreats into her flesh, her snout turns back into her perfect nose. The wolf is completely gone and a naked woman stands in front of me instead. “This is nuts,” I say, stepping backward.

  “But, you believe now?” She reaches for her clothes, putting them on as I gape at her. Do I believe her? I don’t know. Do I? I’m so damn confused.

  “I’m really going to turn into that?” She nods. “Seriously?”

  “Yes, Kenly. You will be turning here in the next couple of days, maybe a week.” This is too much to process. A wolf, me?

  “How many of you are here?” I ask as it hits me—how in the hell am I going to be able to be around a pack of wolves for any period of time? What if they come after me? How do I protect myself?

  “Total there are around sixty.” My stomach plummets. “But none of them are a threat to you.”

  “How do I know that?” After what I’ve just been through, how do I know for sure that they won’t attack me at first sight?

  “Because I’ll never lie to you. I swear it.” Why do I have to believe her…but I do. Damn.

  “Do you have any humans here?” I choke a bit on the word human. “That have turned into a wolf?”

  Darkness clouds her eyes and my stomach falls further, this time twisting into a knot. “Of the two that I have seen, neither one were able to survive the change.”

  Fear chokes my throat. They died? Oh lord. Am I dying in a couple of days?

  “Why me?” Why, out of all the people in the world, did these wolves come after me? For a meal? Did they want to turn me? Why?

  “Alpha and Beta will figure it out,” she says, with all the confidence in the world, but something tells me she’s holding something back. “Come, we need to feed you.”